This kiss felt different.
Possessive?
Jinx didn’t get possessive. She’d worked on several missions with him before. She’d technically known him for at least two years. He didn’t get possessive about anyone or anything.
The door closed softly behind him. Ali raked a hand through her hair. That had been—wow.
Jinx.
And he planned for more. A whole night more. Then they were going to put all of this amazing sexing behind them and work together as a team on future cases and—
And I will always be picturing him naked. I will always be remembering what it was like to have him inside of me.
No way would she ever be able to erase those memories.
Oh, she had majorly screwed up.
Her phone rang. A loud, jarring peal of sound that had her jerking and then reaching toward the nightstand. She’d put the phone on the worn nightstand earlier…before she’d given in to that reckless urge to kiss Jinx.
There was no picture on the screen to identify the caller, but she knew that number, and unease slithered through her. Ali lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello.”
“The car is waiting in front of your motel.”
Her heart slammed into her chest. “I just finished a mission.”
“And you’re starting another. You’re needed now. Deep cover.”
Ali didn’t move. She stayed in the bed—the bed that smelled of her and Jinx—and realized that she didn’t want to go anywhere. She wanted to be right there when Jinx came back. She wanted to spend the night with him. She wanted to get lost in him.
She didn’t want another case. Didn’t want to have to become someone else. She was tired of pretending. “Find someone else.” Words that she had never, ever expected to say. Not in a million years. The job was her life.
“There is no one else. A car is waiting, and it’s time to move.” Her handler’s voice was implacable. “You need to be gone before he gets back.”
Goosebumps rose onto her skin. “Were you…watching us?”
“Not us, you. I was watching you because I am here to take you to the next case. A case that can’t wait. So get your gear and move.” A direct order.
Because he was her boss.
Except…
“This is the last one.” She’d been feeling adrift for a while, and she hadn’t expected to say those words. They just kind of came out. But she wanted more. More than shadows. More than bullets raining down on her every time she turned around. “I do this, and I’m out.”
“There is no out.”
“There is for me.” She rose from the bed. Jerked on her clothes even as she kept talking to him. “Consider this my two weeks’ notice.”
“The case will last longer than two weeks. It’s deep cover. I told you—”
“And I just told you, I’m done. This is it. I want to be normal.” She’d never realized how much she longed for it until it was gone. Until it had been ripped away by the choices she’d made. But she’d paid her debt. More than paid it. “Put in the paperwork, do whatever you need to do, but erase me. I’m out of your files, and, after I finish this case, my number will disappear from your phone.”
Silence.
She looked around. She had to leave a note for Jinx. She couldn’t just vanish.
How much time had passed?
“Fine,” he gritted, his voice rumbling in her ear. “But get your ass outside, now, before the boyfriend comes back.”
“He’s not my—” She stopped. She didn’t need to explain Jinx to him. He knew Jinx. They’d all worked together. “I’m on my way.” She hung up the phone. Found a motel room pen near an absolutely ancient-looking notepad. Ali bit her lip as she stared at the pad. According to mission protocol, once you received an assignment, you had to go dark. No texts. No calls. Nothing.
But she wasn’t just going to leave Jinx. And there was no rule about scribbling out a quick message the old-fashioned way. As long as that message didn’t give away any mission secrets…
What was she supposed to write?
Thanks for the best sex ever.
That would go straight to his already inflated ego.
Thanks for a night I’ll never forget.
But…it hadn’t been a night. More like an hour?
A horn sounded outside. Jeez. Impatient, much?
The pen flew over the notepad.
Then she was out the door. And five minutes hadn’t passed because Jinx wasn’t back.
***
Silence.
Jinx knew something was off as soon as he opened the motel room door. He gripped the brown paper bag in one hand as his gaze swept the small area. “Ali?”
The covers were rumpled. Her discarded clothing gone from the floor.
He took a few fast steps inside. “Ali?” Sharper, harder.
No response. It took only seconds to realize she wasn’t in the bathroom. She was gone. She’d left him.
Holy hell, she’d left him. After what he thought was pretty fucking great sex, she’d left him. No woman had ever done that before.
He whirled toward the door. She couldn’t have gotten far. He surged forward, then stopped when he caught sight of the notepad. His jaw locked as he stalked closer to it, then read…
I got a call. You know the kinds of calls we get. There was no choice.
His nostrils flared.
If there’d been a choice, I would have stayed.
Well, fucking hell. Ali had always been incredibly honest.
Thank you for showing me the kind of incredible time that a woman will never forget.
His breath shuddered out. He’d intended to show her that incredible time over and over again. Like, not just for the night. But for the next week. Because while Ali might be honest, he was a world class liar. Always had been. He’d never intended to only have one night with her. Hell, no, he’d been playing a long game with Ali for a while.
His gaze lingered over the last line she’d written…
And I was wrong. It wasn’t a mistake.
Jinx swallowed. He hissed out a breath and dropped the paper bag on the old desk. Then he yanked out his phone. He sent a quick text to Ali.
I will see you again.
No response.
But then, he hadn’t expected one. When an operative went out on a mission, the order was to immediately go radio silent. That was why she hadn’t texted him before she’d left the motel room.
At least she’d left him a note.
He grabbed the note.
Fuck, he could still smell her on him. Her sweet, strawberry scent.
The mission wouldn’t last forever. He would see her again. He would have her again.
He tucked the note into his pocket.
He could wait. He could be patient. Patience was a virtue, after all. Granted, it had never been one of his virtues, but he could try. Unfortunately, he’d always found virtues to be rather boring. Jinx much preferred vices to virtues. And as soon as he had the chance, he couldn’t wait to lead Ali down the road into wicked temptation with him.
I will be seeing you again, my Ali. Count on it.
Chapter One
“Sex on the beach is incredible.”
At those low, rumbling words, Alison Carter whipped up in her beach chair. “Listen, buddy, I am not in the mood for—”